It's a mindset.

Lowering your food bill is a lot about changing your mindset.    There are all kinds of little things that make for a big thing when collected together.  

• Don't just pick up the same brand of things out of habit,  price compare,   Case in point:  dishwasher detergent.  I always bought Finish,  I stopped to compare prices.    Costco brand is remarkably cheaper and you don't have to open the individual package. 
• Off brands are sometimes cheaper, but sometimes to buy the brand name in sale with coupons are a lower price.   Compare.   
• Finding EASY scratch recipes lowers your food bill.   Unless your hobby is being a foodie and you like soending all day in the kitchen, finding simple scratch cooking recipes is a good thing.  Most of us have busy lives and children to take care of, or jobs etc.  It's desirable to do grand recipes and your enthusiasm for new year, new you is high in January, but when ;$;)() Haines, your enthusiasm will wane.    Start out as you can hold out,   Easy scratch recipes will be more sustainable as life goes on.   
• Having the right equipment makes scratch cooking a lot more desireable  and efficient.   Case in point,   With foirmofmusm I dint make huge pots of dried beans,   Dried beans are a lot cheaper and more healthy than canned beans, but it's just too much work to make a cup or two ofmbeans,  beans do not freeze well.  They loose their texture.  I usually have too much basic food in the freezer to take room up with premade items or bread.     Enter a pressure cooker.   The insta pot makes rice, has a slow cooker function, and is a pressure cooker.   I can make beans with no pre soak  and it takes seconds of prep time.   Wash and pick beans,   Drop in pot. Add water, put the top on the cooker, check valve and push the bean button.    Done.  
•    We all will eat too much of a good thing if we are not paying  attention.  Obesity is a big problem  in the United States.    Too much junk food.   If you don't buy it, you won't eat it.   Simple solution.   If you are hankering for something crunchy, make peanut butter celery.   
• Use 8 inch plates and smaller glasses for juice and milk.   Or tricks the brain into using smaller portions.   Read the nutritional requirements for your children and adults.   Eating correct portions and avoiding junk food is good for your pocketbook and your health.   
• Think well balanced, portion controlled diet.    Well balanced is eating from the food pyramid.   Unless your medical doctor is telling you that you have a medical problem, eat normal, regular, balanced diet in moderation.   When you take something out of your diet, you are playing with fire and unless you have someone that is educated in nutrition telling you how to compensate for your loss, you are going to get burned.   It might take until you get older to take its toll, but, it will take its toll.    The internet is full of people telling you this and that is bad for you,  like everything in the grocery store, someone has an opinion of.   Almond milk has too much sugar, kale can make you have lead poisoning.    Milk has hormones, soy milk has more.   Wait ten minutes and they will change their mind.   
• Stick to tried and true.    We know certain things are bad for you.  It's kinda like listening to a child at Christmas time and their Santa list.  It changes daily.   I always waited until I saw a distinctive pattern to know what the child really wanted.   We know that too much salt, sugar, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, HFCS is bad for you.   Your body needs some salt and some oils and carbs to function,    It's all about moderation and balance.    
• Go back to basics.    You can eat well balanced, nutritious food and still avoid a lot of the unhealthy food out there.    Moderation is truly the key.     When a item is a fad item , thenorice goes up.    The more yuppie the environment, the higher the price.  I have been looking at a lot of grocery hauls from all over the country.   I think it really remarkable that our prices in the PNW are appreciably higher than the same thing in the mid-west.    A lot of things don't make sense.   Eggs are as low as 29 cents a dozen in upstate ny, but the lowest I have got them for ism.79 with a coupon, and most of the time they are at least a dollar.   Beef is cheaper on sale than ground turkey here.  Ground turkey is as low as a dollar back east.   In other words, it's what the traffic will bear.  There should be no difference in frozen food procesmbetween the mid west and the PNW.